58 DIET, NUTRITION AND EXCRETION 



In all cases the food eaten is that of the student's choice. The 

 daily diet varies slightly in quality. It does vary considerably in 

 quantity. The food was weighed just before it was eaten. The* 

 compositions of the foods and their heat values have been taken 

 from standard books on the subject (1). 



Tor estimations of the kidney excretions care was taken to 

 preserve the twenty-four hour specimens hj the addition of 2 c.c. 

 of a 5 per cent, solution of Thymol in chloroform. This is a 

 matter of importance to doctors in Malaya. Ammoniacal fermen- 

 tation proceeds very rapidly in this climate if the preservative is 

 not added. The methods of quantitative analyses employed are 

 those described by Cramer (2). Some of these methods are not 

 as accurate as they might be, but they are employed in most 

 hospitals because the results obtained are quite accurate enough 

 from a clinical point of view. 



On one or two occasions one or other of the representatives, 

 was indisposed for a day or two. Xo observations were made until 

 health was restored. 



Diet and Nutrition. 



Chinese. — The maximum diet taken by the Chinese in twenty- 

 four hours gives a heat value of 2131 kilocalories. It consists of 

 bread 45 grammes, condensed milk 42, boiled rice 798, flour 128, 

 pork 77, chicken 32, fish 50, cabbage 10, bananas 112. His. 

 minimum diet for twenty-four hours gives a heat value of 1141 

 kilocalories. It consists of boiled rice 524 grammes, egg 40, pork 37, 

 beans 14, chicken 51, flour 53, fish 21, cabbage 14, gruel 65. His 

 average diet for six months consists of protein jjG^grammes, fat 43, 

 carbohydrate 227, which gives 1577 kilocalories (Table II). This 

 student weighs 92 lbs. and is 20 years of age. He has lost a small 

 amount of weight during the experiment. Examination of his 

 kidney excretion shows that he metabolises 57.8 grammes of the 

 protein eaten, so that he uses most of the food he eats. 



Tamil. — The maximum diet taken by the Tamil in 24 hours 

 gives 1847 kilocalories, his minimum diet 1519. The former con- 

 sists of bread 116 grammes, butter 14, bananas 112, cake 112, cocoa 

 14, beef 21, mutton 98, boiled rice 448, egg 70, sugar 14. The 

 minimum diet consists of bread 120 grammes, butter 6, bananas 

 67, fish 118, beans 154, boiled rice 504, cake 56, eggs 90, sugar 

 14, cocoa 14. This student lived on this diet for six months, but 

 estimations were made during three months of this period. The 

 average diet for the three months gives 1672 kilocalories and con- 

 tains 58 grammes of protein, 32 of fat and 277 of carbohydrate 

 (Table' LI). The examination of his kidney excretion shows that 

 he metabolises 51.5 grammes of protein, so that he does not use 

 all of the food he eats. He is 26 years of age and weighs 143 lbs. 



Malay. — This student partook of the same diet as the Tamil's 

 for six months. He has only been under observation for two Weeks. 



Join*. Straits Branch. 



